St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Providence
No. 23/19 St. John's Clinches BIG EAST Regular Season Title with 1-0 Win at Providence
10/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
PROVIDENCE, R.I - For the first time in the history of the St. John's women's soccer program, the Red Storm has claimed the BIG EAST Regular Season Championship, as Rachel Daly's last-minute heroics lifted the Johnnies over Providence, 1-0, on Friday night.
"I thought it was a tremendous team performance," said Head Coach Ian Stone. "Providence came out flying against us. We were resolute in our defending. Diana [Poulin] made a couple of big saves in the first half and then I felt we made some adjustments in the second half: got the ball on the ground, possessed it through midfield much better."
After 88 minutes of scoreless action and knowing that a tie or loss would drop the team into the third seed of next week's BIG EAST Tournament, the Red Storm turned to its leading scorer. After Shea Connors drew a penalty 30 yards from the net, the Red Storm lined up three players at the ball on the ensuing free kick: Daly, Morgan Tinari and Mikhaila Martinov. After the first two took decoy charges at the ball, Martinov played it down the right side of the box to a streaking Tinari. The junior from Holbrook, N.Y., then crossed the ball perfectly in front of the net, where Daly was waiting to redirect it with a header past the keeper and give the Red Storm a decisive 1-0 advantage with just 1:09 left on the clock. It was a play that Stone said the team had had up its sleeve all season long.
"I'm really proud of the girls because all season they've battled hard, they've learnt lessons and that was not an easy game right there," reflected Stone. "To come out on top against a very good Providence team and to win the first-ever BIG EAST Regular Season title is a just reward for the amount of work they've put in and the amount of talent we've got as a team. Now, obviously, we've kind of got to do it all over again. We have the top seed in the BIG EAST Tournament, but six of those teams that have made it are fantastic teams. We have a tremendous amount of respect for all of them, so now it's a question of making sure that we recover, regenerate our bodies and then get ready to go again next Friday."
With a final ranking in the top two of the conference, the Red Storm has earned a bye to the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament next weekend in Omaha, Neb.
In addition to the program's first regular season conference title, the win was historic in a number of other ways. The Red Storm moved to 15-2-1 on the year, breaking the school record for the most wins in a single season. The old record was set in 1994, as the Red Storm went 14-4-1 en route to the program's first-ever BIG EAST Tournament title.
Individually, Daly's goal was the 50th of her illustrious career, making her only the second player in St. John's history, men's or women's, to reach the half-century mark. Huey Ferguson, a two-time All-American and BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year, recorded 50 for the men's side from 1991-94; Daly has reached the same milestone in just three years.
Diana Poulin's three-save shutout marked the 12th of the season for the Red Storm, building upon the school record that was broken in the team's 1-0 win over Xavier last Thursday. The win marked the 31st of her career, moving her just one victory out of a tie for first place with Kristin Russell for the top spot in school history.
Tinari's assist on the Daly goal was her ninth of the season, the most of any player in the BIG EAST this year.
The Friars came out firing on their senior night, registering a great scoring chance in the first minute. Unfortunately for Providence, Poulin made sure that the game remained scoreless, rejecting Catherine Zimmerman on the doorstep.
It appeared as if St. John's had taken the lead in the 15th minute of action, as Daly headed one past the keeper. The linesman, however, determined that the senior was offside and called off the goal.
Tinari registered a pair of quality long scoring attempts later in the half in the 32nd and 33rd minutes, but Kristyn Shea managed to turn away both of those tries.
Not long after, Zimmerman booted one from 40 yards out that appeared to be curling toward the top right corner of the net, but Poulin just got a finger on it and managed to knock it over the cross bar in the 34th minute.
The two squads played back and forth over the second half's opening minutes. The Red Storm then began to dominate the possession game near the 60 minute mark. In the 69th minute, St. John's earned a pair of corner kicks, the latter of which resulted in a strong header for Georgia Kearney-Perry that was stopped by Shea to preserve the tie.
With just under 10 minutes to go, Providence recorded its best opportunity of the half off a Zimmerman corner, but Christina Bellero stopped a ball from entering the net.
Nine minutes later, St. John's registered the game-winner in the waning minutes.
The Red Storm will next be in action on Friday, Nov. 6, facing the winner of Tuesday's match between Butler and Marquette.
